The Reliant Motor Company had been making
3-wheeler cars since 1935, however on one particular day in 1960 that was all
about to change. At a racing car show Yitzhak Shubinsky from
Autocars Ltd (Israel) had been looking around the show to get some ideas
for producing a new sports car. Yitzhak Shubinsky had become impressed by
Ashley's fibreglass bodied special and saw Leslie Ballamy's new ladder
type chassis which was fitted with an unusual independent front suspension setup.
A deal was struck with both Leslie Ballamy and Ashley Laminates, so that
Yitzhak Shubinsky could produce both.

ABOVE: Ashley 1172
Roadster

As Reliant had previously helped Autocars
produce the Carmel" and the "Sussita", Yitzhak Shubinsky
approached them again and asked them to put together a prototype using the
Leslie Ballamy chassis and a modified Ashley 1172 body.

ABOVE: Sabra Prototype

In less than nine months the Reliant engineers had successfully modified the chassis, bodywork, suspension and had come up with their first prototype
of the sports car which was powered by a Ford Consul 1703cc engine.

The car was named the "Sabra" and Mr.Shubinsky was delighted with the
result. The idea being that the Autocars Company could build the
new sports car and sell them to America. The Sabra sports car made
its first appearance in the U.S.A during the World's Trade Fair
held at the New York Coliseum in May 1961.

Reliant produced the first 100 Sabra Sports cars to give Autocars time to prepare their workshop in Haifa
(Israel) and also shipped them to the USA on behalf of Autocars.
Reliant would then send the rest of the cars in kit form to Autocars,
who would then assemble them ready for sale.

Western importation for the firm was handled
by Sabra Motors Inc. of Beverly Hill, California and the US press
reported it as being a "VERY limited production car".

Reliant saw the opportunity to market the Sabra
in the UK and quickly converted two left hand drive Sabra sports cars into right
hand drives and changed the spelling of "Sabra" to "Sabre" to indicate the
British version.

In 1971 Autocars went into liquidation, thus
ending the partnership between Autocars and Reliant. Some Sabra
body kits were left over and were
held by the government. These were eventually sold off some years later.